Bury Shared Lives Learn About Green Energy

Solar panels aren't just for houses!

After Carmen, our Green Ambassador, visited the Shared Lives Committee meeting, the group were inspired to visit a local solar farm to find out more about Green Energy. We asked the group to tell us about their trip:

What inspired your trip to a solar farm?

Everyone at Bury Shared Lives is keen to think about how we can live and work more sustainably and we discuss this at our quarterly meetings. When we saw we could visit a local solar farm, it seemed a good way to learn about green energy in our area and it was an opportunity for carers and people we support to meet up and spend time together.

What did you learn?

We were shown how solar panels work and had a tour of the farm to see them in operation. We learnt that the panels use sunlight to produce enough electricity to power 800 houses and that the panels are expected to last for 50 years. 

Did you enjoy your trip?

The weather wasn't great, so we didn't hang around after the tour but we enjoyed learning about solar energy and catching up with friends. We were surprised to learn that solar panels aren't only on houses and we couldn't believe how many there were on the farm! We liked our trip and found it very interesting.

Carmen told us:

These outings are excellent ideas for several reasons. They give everyone a visual insight into renewable energy production, sustainability efforts small organisations are making to be more green and also the technological advances out there that not many people are aware of. Most importantly it can inspire people to adopt more eco-friendly, green practices in their own lives.

All credit to Diane for organising this trip. After I shared suggestions of what other Persona services are doing to be greener, Diane took a lead on this and it was a great success in spite of the weather!

Being Persona's Green Ambassador has opened many paths for me to reach out to different committees across our services. We can have productive conversations and share ideas and plans - and get everyone involved in our Green Plan.

You can read Carmen's monthly blog here.

Want to know more about Bury Shared Lives? Click here. 

Read more case studies from across Persona - just click here.